The GP of France brought the 2011 Enduro World Championship to a close. With the E2 class having already went the way of Antoine Meo at the previous GP in Andorra, it was Mika Ahola and Juha Salminen that both made history as the took top honours in E3 and E1 respectively. Here’s the final words of a thrilling season from the champions and riders themselves…
Juha Salminen E1 World Champion: “It’s a great feeling to have won another world title, and to be a part of what has been a fantastic season for Husqvarna. I knew that my bike would be good this year but from my side there were still a lot of question marks regarding whether I would be able to win again. But when I won the first races of the season the only goal I had was to become world champion again. It’s been a fantastic season and apart from one small problem in Andorra everything has gone perfectly. I really wanted to win the title with a victory, which I did and I’m very happy with that. Everyone in the team has put in a huge amount of effort this year and that’s been rewarded with two world titles. It’s been a fantastic season and it feels great to be world champion again.”
E2 World Champion Antoine Meo
Antoine Meo E2 World Champion: “To win the Enduro 2 World Championship is incredible. Winning last year in E1 was a dream result for me but together with Husqvarna we have moved to a different class and won the championship immediately. I can’t ask for any more from the team – the support they have given me has been fantastic. When I changed bikes we spent a lot of time testing during the winter to reach a good setting and when we arrived in Spain we showed just how competitive we were with two wins. From there we went on to take seven race wins this year with 14 podiums. It’s been an incredible season, one that I will remember always.”
E3 World Champion Mika Ahola
Mika Ahola E3 World Champion “It is a great joy to enter history as the first rider to win the World Enduro five consecutive titles in all three classes. Not only that but I am now the oldest rider to win a world championship. I have no words to thank all the guys on the team and my engineer Luke. REALLY THANK YOU ALL!”
David Knight E3: ‘I always knew that competing in the last round of the world championship would be tough but being at the back of the Enduro 3 class made it impossible to compete. The dust was so bad in the special tests, especially in the enduro test, that it was just too dangerous. I had to stop completely a few times because I couldn’t see – it was just too risky. Things started well with a good time in the Super Test on Friday night but I soon realised it was too dangerous to continue. There’s nothing for me to gain in terms of the E3 championship but I just wanted to spend more time on a bike in competition. The possibility of making a mistake in the dust, hitting something that I couldn’t see and aggravating my hips, was too high. I’ve worked too hard getting back my fitness to risk setting myself back at this stage. It’s disappointing because I normally really enjoy races in France. I’m still getting some pains in my hips so with the season all but over I will be able to let things settle down a little now and continue with my physio.’
Pierre Renet E2: The first day here in France was great for me, I won the Enduro 2 class as well as being the fastest overall rider, so I was really pleased with that. The conditions were incredibly dry so it was very easy to make mistakes because the ground was so loose. I made a few mistakes but generally it was a really good day. Day two wasn’t so good. I crashed in the enduro test on the second lap – I lost around three minutes and had a lot of pain in my leg so I had to stop. It’s disappointing but generally I’ve had a good year. I finished fourth, but I have won some days and finished much closer to the riders at the top of the class compared to last season. I’m looking forward to a small break now and then I will start getting ready for next season.”
Gordon Clarke
Gordon Clarke E1: “It’s been an up and down weekend for me really. I think I was pushing too hard on Saturday and kept making mistakes. Riding in that dust wasn’t easy, during the Enduro Test I clipped a tree root and it launched me into a tree. At first I thought everything was Ok but it must have damaged the radiator and a lap later I was forced to retire for the day. Sunday I tried to settle my riding and not take so many risks. It worked and my times improved a lot. I’m happy to have finished 12th and it’s been good to race at this level again!”
Joakim Ljunggren E3: “This weekend has been a difficult one, I felt tense and didn’t ride like I have been riding in recent events. But I’m very happy to have achieved my goal of getting third in the Enduro 3 championship. I think that was why I was a little tense, because I didn’t want to do anything that would spoil my chances of finishing third. I ended up fourth on the first day. I hoped to do better on the second day but things ended up more or less the same. I struggled a little on the motocross test. Regarding the whole season I’m very happy. I was really determined to improve on what wasn’t the best season for me last year, which I’ve done. The Swedish championship has also gone very well for me, and my next goal is to do as well as I can in the Indoor Enduro World Championship.”
Alex Salvini E3: “Two podium finishes here in France is a perfect end to the season. I made a few more mistakes on the second day than I did on the first but generally I’m really happy. I was tired on the second day. I was close to the first two riders on the first lap but after that I fell back a little. I was a little angry with myself after Greece and Turkey because I missed the podium, that gave me a lot of motivation for the last races. I now know that my speed is good so I have all of the winter to improve my riding ready for next year.”
Oriol Mena E3: “In general it’s been a pretty good weekend for me. I was having a good first day before I crashed on the enduro test. Eventually I finished seventh, which wasn’t so good finally. The second day was a little better and I finished fifth. The last race of the world championship is always a difficult one, but here in France it’s been unbelievably dry and dusty – a really tough final race. This winter I have a lot of work to do in preparation for next season – I’m determined to improve my performances in the world championship.”
Rod Thain locked down his first win
Rodrig Thain E1: “I’m really happy to have finally won. It’s the first win of my enduro career and I’m delighted to finally get one. Beating Juha really adds to the importance of it- even though he was crowned world champion yesterday he still wanted to win today, he pushed me all the way, he wasn’t settling for second! I gave it my all today and rode for the win. I put everything I had out on the track and just went for it. I felt so good this morning, I was pulling good times out on the Enduro Test and had built up almost a 30-second gap by mid-day. But then Juha stepped it up and started coming back at me. I thought I nearly lost it when I crashed on the third Cross Test. I lost close to 15-seconds but thankfully held on to win.”
Matti Seistola E1: “I crashed heavily in the Super Test on Friday, which was the start of a tough weekend for me. After that I seemed to spend the whole weekend doing two or three good special tests before one bad one again. It was like that all weekend. Since the ISDE I have been making some mistakes in the world championship. But in general it’s been a really good season for me. I finished third in the Enduro 1 championship, which I am really pleased about. It’s a little frustrating to have made some mistakes here, but generally it’s been a really great year.”
Jordan Scott Youth Cup: “This weekend was dead on- two podiums! I felt good on Saturday and rode strong on the first three laps. I started making some mistakes on the final few laps in both the Cross Test and Enduro Test so I couldn’t make the time back up for second. We were fighting for second up until then but those mistakes really cost me. I learnt from what went wrong on Sunday and luckily managed to make that next step up to second. Three podiums in the last three days of the championship has been a perfect end to the season!”
Jordan bumped himself from 3rd up to 2nd on Sunday
Alex Rockwell EJ: “It’s been good to get back to the EWC. This weekend has been good. Having not competed in any rounds this year left me starting from the back of the class. It meant we struggled a lot with dust especially in the Enduro Test. The dust made it extremely difficult just to even see, let alone push during that test and nearly every time I got to the final hill climb there was someone stuck so I had to take two stabs at it, which really hurt. I think I probably could have got 8th only for that but I’m pleased with my 10th and 11th.”
Danny McCanney EJ: “This weekend’s been awesome really, though starting at the back of the Juniors left me struggling a lot to see with the dust. That combined with the heat made for a tough weekend. I finished 11th on Saturday but improved to 5th on Sunday. I felt really strong in the Cross Test on Sunday and I think that made a big difference between my results.”